


Asleep at Last

by yunmin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: 5+1 Things, Developing Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 17:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8066875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yunmin/pseuds/yunmin
Summary: Luke rests his head on Wedge’s shoulder, an act that he’s done many times over the years. He closes his eyes. He’s at peace here in a way he isn’t anywhere else.
Four times Wedge and Luke fell asleep together and were interrupted, and one time they weren’t.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt session over on tumblr, where [harusamemosuke](http://harusamemosuke.tumblr.com/) asked for “Wedge & Luke - accidentally falling asleep together” and I did my usual thing of not sticking exactly to it.
> 
> Title is from The Wailin Jennys [Asleep at Last](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRR73dSKr7c).

**i)**

Han has looked bloody everywhere for the kid, but has had little success in finding him. There really aren’t many places on the capital ship to hide, but Han has checked the hangar, and the pilot’s lounge, and the duty locker, and then with the LSO to check that Luke wasn’t out on a mission.

Leia’s office is easy enough to find though, and she has an open door policy, so it’s not difficult to barge in and demand: “Have you seen the kid?”

Leia looks up, thumb and forefinger resting on her brow. She shoots him a dirty look. Han notes the dark circles under her eyes and wonders when the last time she had a full night’s sleep was. ~~(Then wipes that thought, because her worshipfulness~~ ~~’s state of health is none of his concern.)~~ “No.” Then her face softens. “Why?” she asks. “Is something wrong?”

“Nahh.” Han waves her concern aside; even if there was, he’s not sure he would add it to her burdens. “Just wondering. Can’t find him.”

“Ohh.” Leia considers something for a moment. “Have you tried looking for Wedge? If anyone knows where he is, he might.”

“Wedge?” Han racks his brain. “Oh, the other pilot. Dark haired, Corellian, stickler for protocol?”

Leia raises her eyebrow at the last one. Clearly Wedge has not always been the hard-ass Han has encountered so far, who keeps pointing out all the things wrong with the Falcon and Han’s general disregard for the military procedures of the Alliance. “He and Luke bunk together. You did check their room, right?”

It might have slipped Han’s mind – he’s not even sure if he knows where they bunk. So he wheedles that piece of information out of Leia, and heads off to find it. The door is locked, and no one’s responding to a knock, so Han turns his attention to the door panel key code.

(He should possibly tell the Alliance that these things can be hacked by anyone with the slightest bit of technical know how, but he also thinks it’s possible they know that and just can’t afford to replace them.)

Having successfully coaxed the door mechanisms into opening, he pushes the door open. “Luke?” he queries, before going in, because he doesn’t really want to take the chance that the door was locked for a reason and the kid is doing the nasty with someone. There’s no response, and no sounds, so Han goes in.

 _Huh_ he thinks at the sight that greets him. Only one of the bunks in the room is occupied, but it has two occupants; Luke, lying on his back, snoring softly, and then a dark-haired man Han’s fairly certain is Wedge lies curled up beside him, face hidden in the crook of Luke’s neck.

No real way of telling whether they intentionally went to bed together, or just happened to crawl into the same bunk. Luke’s in his regulation vest and underwear, while Wedge is wrapped so tight in a blanket Han can’t tell what he’s wearing. Wedge snuffles, and Luke mutters something about vaporators Han doesn’t quite catch. He decides to leave them be. They both look at peace, and that’s a rare thing these days.

(Still doesn’t mean he won’t interrogate Luke about exactly what his feelings are regarding the other pilot, and then threaten to make Antilles’ life a misery if he pulls anything that would possibly hurt Luke.)

**ii)**

Commander Narra jumps out of his X-Wing and stalks over to Skywalker. “My office,” he demands, with a stab of a finger. “Now. Antilles, you too,” he yells, though Wedge is already making his way over to Skywalker’s side.

“Commander Narra.” Narra turns to see Princess Leia Organa, standing at the edge of the hangar. “A word, please?”

Narra turns back to Skywalker and Antilles. “This doesn’t get you off the hook,” he says. “Report to my office. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Leia has been sent by command to get Narra’s debrief, though Narra privately believes she’d volunteered so she could ensure that Skywalker was alright. The mission was ultimately a success, and they got the supplies they needed, and there were no casualties, but things cut a little close for Narra’s comfort. Satisfied, Leia dismisses him. Then he gets caught by one of the technical officers, asking how urgent the repairs on Antilles’ X-Wing were, and by the time he’s heading back to his office it’s been two hours and he doubts whether Skywalker and Antilles will still be there.

He understands their history together – the little of it they have, anyway. Antilles’ file is a long list of battles where he’s been one of a handful of survivors, Skywalker’s is basically a page detailing his exploits at Yavin. It makes sense that they would be protective of each other. And they fly together oh so _well_ , better than any of the other pairs in the squadron, and have the best record by miles.

But they _cannot_ be allowed to continue doing stupid stunts that put essential missions for the Rebellion in jeopardy just because one of them is in danger.

He’s contemplating splitting them up again. Antilles can’t be the only pilot to keep up with the force-sensitive Skywalker, and he’d only assigned them together because Antilles had come to him and begged for them not to be separated. It had paid off in the results the pair got, but Narra will have to reconsider.

He turns the corner to the corridor his office is on, and is surprised when he spots a swathe of orange sitting outside his door. He gets closer and sees that it is Skywalker and Antilles. Antilles is leaning against the wall, eyes closed, while Skywalker’s blonde head is resting on his shoulder. They’ve got their arms loosely wrapped around each other, and in the pools of the orange fabric that makes up their flight-suits it’s difficult to see where one ends and the other begins.

He coughs as he reaches his door. Antilles’ eyes blink open, and he looks up at Narra, then back down to the weight on his shoulder.

Skywalker hasn’t stirred.

“We can do this tomorrow,” Narra says, with a sigh. “Get some shut-eye in an actual bed, the pair of you.”

He disappears inside his office and leaves Antilles to deal with getting Skywalker’s dead weight back to their quarters.

**iii)**

When Wes Janson appears at the doorway of the pilot’s lounge with a conspiratorial grin on his face, it is never good news. “Psst,” he says, gesturing to Tycho and Hobbie. “You’ve got to come see this.”

“No we don’t,” Hobbie replies in a dour instant.

Tycho shrugs his shoulders. “It’s sure to be entertaining. You have any better suggestions?”

They’re all broke, the ship they’re on has gone comm-silent and is out of holo-net range, and they’re all bored out their skulls. There’s only so many runs in the simulators they can do. They’re almost at the point of envying Wedge and Luke for the paperwork; at least they’ve got something to do.

Hobbie agrees, though not entirely happily, and he and Tycho follow Wes through the labyrinth of the ship. For reasons unknown to – well, pretty much everyone – Luke had been assigned an office on the other side of the ship to the hangar and the pilot’s lounge. Wes uses his Rogue Squadron ID to open the door.

Inside, Luke is sprawled out on the settee that lines one wall of the office, mouth open, fast asleep.

That’s not the surprising part. Luke can sleep pretty much anywhere, and it’s not uncommon to see him sprawled out under his X-Wing or across seats in the ready-room, catching another half-an-hour of shut eye before they head out again. He’s kept busy, and it takes its toll.

No, the surprising part is that Wedge Antilles is also asleep on the same settee, head pillowed in Luke’s lap. He’s clutching a data-pad in his hands, and seems to have almost fallen asleep in the middle of a sentence.

“Well _that_ _’s_ new,” Hobbie says, taking in the sight. One of Wedge’s favourite executive officer lectures – second only to the one about trigger safety – is the one about the virtues of getting a good night’s sleep. Which he clearly has not been following himself.

“I’ve got holos,” Wes whispers. “Might get us out of bad job or two.”

Tycho sighs, leaning against the door, placing a hand to his forehead. “S’pose they’re lucky that’s _all_ you’ve done.”

“Hey!” Wes says. “A man’s got to take every advantage he can get. Besides, they look sweet.”

Hobbie bites his lip. After a moment, he says, very quietly: “They aren’t _together_ , right? Cause I really thought I would have noticed that.”

Tycho and Wes suddenly look back over their commander and his second, seeing them in a new light. The way Wedge has nuzzled his face into Luke’s stomach, and Luke’s hand that is brushing at the very edges of Wedge’s hair. There certainly is an intimacy there. There always has been between the pair of them, but they’d always assumed it was an intimacy born of comrade-ship and near-death-experiences, rather than anything else.

“No,” Tycho says, after a long moment of deliberation. “I don’t think they are.”

“Doesn’t mean they don’t want to be,” Wes adds with a cheeky grin.

**iv)**

Leia had left Luke’s side for a handful of hours, coerced away by Lando and Chewie and the medical staff, to visit the refresher and the mess and tell Mon Mothma the barest details of what happened. She’d not done so willingly, but under the promise that Luke wouldn’t wake up, and would be undisturbed. He needed his rest, and medical seemed unwilling to even let her sit with him – though they were hardly going to argue with a distraught Leia Organa.

When she returns, she finds Wedge Antilles asleep on the bed next to Luke. She’s not sure which member of the medical staff he talked into letting him do that – or whether he had just snuck in and not asked for any permission. That would be out of character for Wedge, she thinks.

But then, Wedge Antilles has spent the last four years throwing the rulebook out the window as far as Luke Skywalker is concerned.

Leia can’t bring herself to care about something so trivial now.

Luke doesn’t seem to mind that Wedge has crawled into his bed – though honestly, he’s so sedated right now that Leia doubts he’d notice a bomb going off – and the medical monitors are all giving off the same solid, unchanging readings they had been when Leia had left earlier. Wedge’s breathing is solid and even and his face is peaceful. Leia’s not sure she could wake him if she tried. So she doesn’t.

She just sits back down in the chair she left earlier, leans over to Wedge to find Luke’s remaining hand, and holds tight.

**and i)**

It’s late in the night on Endor when Luke Skywalker finally makes his way to his friend’s side for the second time that night.

He finds Wedge a little way away from the main party, sitting on one of the many bridges that connect the Ewok settlement. He’s let his legs dangle out over the edge, and seems to be surveying the endless forest that surrounds them. Luke settles down beside him. “Hey,” he says gently, alerting his friend to his presence.

“Hey,” Wedge replies, turning to face Luke. “You not still with Han and Leia?”

The answer to that question should be obvious, given that Luke has chosen to sit beside Wedge. “They’ve gone off for some privacy,” Luke says, in a tone of voice that says that he knows _exactly_ what they’ve gone off to do, and he doesn’t want to spend too much time thinking about it. “Lando’s gone to try his luck with some of the female pilots. Chewie’s swapping war stories with one of the pathfinders, and Threepio’s being deluged for story requests by the young Ewok crowd.” He smiles at that. “What about the Rogues?”

“Still out partying,” Wedge responds. “Those that came down. Tycho and a couple of the others stayed ship-bound. I lost track of them all a while ago.” He’d never been paying much attention to what they’d all been doing. Too busy accepting the congratulations that had been foisted upon him, then avoiding those congratulations while still keeping an eye out for Luke. “What about you? Are you alright?”

Luke bows his head, emitting a long sigh. “No,” he admits.

Wedge doesn’t say anything in response, just shuffles an inch closer, pressing his body against Luke’s. The warmth is hardly needed, but it is a comfort, and Luke leans into it gladly.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” he says, because he knows he can trust Wedge to listen with a sympathetic ear and not judge him for the choices he made. “Now’s not the time.”

He rests his head on Wedge’s shoulder, an act that he’s done many times over the years. He closes his eyes. He’s at peace here in a way he isn’t anywhere else.

Wedge’s laugh cuts through the quiet night. “Oh no, you aren’t doing that again.” Luke opens his eyes, quirking an eyebrow. He isn’t concerned; he can’t sense any animosity coming off Wedge, just gentleness and – something that feels remarkably like _love_. “Come on Skywalker, let’s go and find something that actually resembles a bed.”

Luke lets Wedge tug him to his feet. The Ewoks did give him quarters the night before, and have made it clear that he would be welcome to use them again. So he leads Wedge through the crowds, though the party is dying down now. “Clean-up tomorrow will be fun,” Wedge comments. “No one’s going to be awake.”

“Lighten up,” Luke tells him, pushing a curtain that leads to a small dwelling aside. “Worry about that when tomorrow gets here.”

Wedge smiles back at him, and Luke is struck by a sudden surge of quiet emotion and _want_. He shakes it off, and sets to removing his boots. Wedge does the same, then also shucks off his flightsuit, letting the orange fabric fall to the floor. Luke has seen Wedge in the vest and shorts combo they wear underneath them many times before, but he’d never noticed the lean lines of muscle that stretch across Wedge’s shoulders before. It’s distracting.

“Come on,” Wedge says, leaning over to undo the fastenings on Luke’s jacket. He pushes it off Luke’s shoulders. “I can do your pants too, if you want?”

Luke shakes his head, loosening his belt and letting them fall to the floor. Wedge is still standing close, so Luke takes a step backwards out of them, heading towards the pile of blankets that makes up the bed. Wedge follows him.

It’s strange. They’ve fallen asleep together numerous times over the years, but it’s never been a conscious act. It’s always been born of exhaustion, of simply falling together, into the same bed or shared space, one of them crawling up to the other. This is far more awkward than it has any right to be.

“Comfy?” Wedge asks, his arm around Luke, Luke’s head resting on his chest.

“Getting there,” Luke replies. He squirms, pushing himself upward, kicking against Wedge’s legs.

“Oww,” Wedge says.

“Sorry.”

Luke moves a little more, finally settling into a position where everything seems comfortable. He looks up and bumps his nose against Wedge’s, they’re so close.

“Sorry again,” he says. Then – because he can, because it feels _right_ – he leans over and kisses Wedge. It’s solid and familiar, even though they’ve never done this before.

“That’s not the sort of thing you should apologise for,” Wedge says, voice barely above a whisper. He gives Luke another kiss, a close-mouthed press of lips, before sliding a hand up into Luke’s hair and pushing him into the crook of his neck. “Now, sleep.”

Wedge’s voice is heavy with exhaustion, and encircled within the safe arms of his friend, Luke finally lets sleep overtake him.


End file.
